Stark prosecutor seizes on inconsistent testimony in murder trial

Isaiah Sanders took the witness stand on Wednesday at his trial on double murder charges in the 2016 shooting deaths of two men in Canton.

Ed Balint CantonRep.com staff writer @ebalintREP

CANTON Pacing toward Isaiah Sanders before stopping a few feet from the witness stand, Stark County Assistant Prosecutor Dennis Barr concluded his fiery cross examination by emphasizing the central point in his case.

"You, and you alone, pulled that trigger five times," said Barr, who was referring to the fatal shootings of Joshua Weatherspoon and Eryc Higgins on Aug. 30, 2016.

Responded the 22-year-old Sanders: "Yes."

Preceding the exchange was a series of questions from Barr, who pointed out numerous inconsistencies in Sanders' statements to Canton police in September 2016, his Stark County grand jury testimony and testimony on Wednesday during the second day of his trial on murder charges tied to the deaths of Weatherspoon, 35, of Canton, and Higgins, 18, of Akron.

Closing arguments will be Thursday morning before Stark County Common Pleas Judge Frank Forchione. Jurors will then begin deliberations.

Sanders also faces two counts of felonious assault as well as single counts of attempted kidnapping and tampering with evidence. Five firearm specifications are attached to the charges and would add time to a prison term, if Sanders is convicted.

Under defense questioning from attorney Wayne Graham, Sanders said that he didn't intend to hurt Higgins, whom he described as a close friend.

Graham asked, "Did you ever intend to murder anyone?"

"In no shape or form," the defendant replied.

'So that's a lie?'

On the witness stand, Sanders disputed that he and Higgins had planned to kidnap Weatherspoon in an attempt to teach him not to disrespect Brooke Clemons, the mother of Weatherspoon's three young children. Sanders had told police that Clemons was in on the plan to tie up Weatherspoon and rough him up. Clemons initiated the plan, Sanders said from the stand.

The defendant said that Weatherspoon had threatened to kill him if he showed up at Clemons' home again on Midway Avenue NE. Sanders, who rejected a plea offer of 25 years to life in prison earlier this week, testified that he had a romantic relationship with Clemons after meeting her while delivering a refrigerator to her mother's home.

On multiple occasions, Sanders admitted to Barr that he had lied during grand jury testimony and to police. Graham pointed out to jurors that Sanders had agreed to testify before the grand jury to aid prosecutors in filing other charges in the case and in an attempt to get his prison sentence reduced.

The defendant admitted that during grand jury testimony he fabricated a story about another person who was involved in the plot that led to the fatal shootings of Higgins and Weatherspoon at Clemons' home.

Barr highlighted a portion of the defendant's police interview in which he told a detective that he and Higgins were planning to tie up Weatherspoon, drive him away in a car, beat him up and leave him somewhere.

After Sanders disputed his own prior statements, the assistant prosecutor snapped, "So that's a lie?"

"Yes, sir," the defendant said.

Leaving Canton

Another point stressed by Barr was that Sanders fled Canton following the shootings before traveling to Alabama and eventually Georgia. A Canton police detective testified on Tuesday that Sanders turned himself into authorities in Georgia and cooperated with Canton police when they flew to Atlanta to serve a warrant and bring him to Stark County.

But the assistant prosecutor noted that was after he had left Canton and put the murder weapon in a trash can. During testimony, Sanders disputed that he fled the area because he had committed a crime or that he was trying to impede the investigation.

Earlier Wednesday, before Barr and fellow Assistant Prosecutor Joe Vance rested their case, Dr. Renee Robinson, a forensic pathologist with the Stark County Coroner's Office, testified that both Higgins and Weatherspoon suffered gunshot wounds to the head and other parts of the body. They died on the scene, according to earlier testimony.

Robinson also testified that Higgins had suffered eye injuries consistent with being choked. On Tuesday, jurors heard a recording of Canton police interviewing Sanders, who said that he, Higgins and Clemons were waiting that morning when Weatherspoon entered the Midway Avenue home. Sanders told investigators that Weatherspoon had a hand around Higgins' neck and he feared Weatherspoon was reaching into his own pocket for a gun.

Sanders told Graham, the defense attorney, that he shot Weatherspoon in an attempt to stop him and not kill him.

Graham pointed out during testimony that Weatherspoon was roughly 6 foot and 4 inches tall and weighed about 340 pounds.

Sanders had told police he wasn't wearing glasses and his vision was blurry when he fired five gunshots, fatally striking the two men.